Hands-on Eternal Darkness

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It's come a long way. Click here for our full write-up.

By Matt Casamassina

Earlier today and Nintendo's annual Gamers Summit in Seattle, Washington, developer Silicon Knights showed an up-to-the-day version of Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem in action. The build, much further along than the Space World version shown previously, gave us a first glimpse at the complete game, its real play mechanics, some improvements, and a few surprises to boot. Following, site editor-in-chief Matt Casamassina's impressions.

Eternal Darkness has been in development forever, and I've been eagerly following the game's progress since it was first announced. Over the months and years, the title has made strides in the right direction, but one thing that has always remained constant in all of the demos previewed to us is secrecy; in fact, Nintendo and Silicon Knights have refused to show the press a completely playable version of the title. But today that all changed, as I got to sit down and play ¿ at great length, even ¿ the nearly finalized game, from story cinemas to hack-and-slash action, gameplay puzzles and everything in between. It was, for the most part, a relief.

I think it would be an injustice to give too much about the title's ambitious storyline away, so let's just note that it's a well-conceived one and leave it at that. Eternal Darkness truly begins with a dream sequence. Alex Roivas, the game's heroine, foresees that she is to do battle with a group of the undead, at which point she awakens to a phone call by the police ¿ her grandfather has been murdered, they say. The time, for the astute gamer, is 3:33 in the morning, and this bit of information later proves integral to a puzzle. When she arrives at the castle, the detective on-hand explains casually that her relative has been murdered, his head gone missing, and she reacts accordingly with tears and outrage. The scene fades and gamers are fast-forwarded ahead by two weeks, where Alex has decided to explore her grandfather's estate in hopes of discovering his true demise.

Now it's time to play. A few seconds with the control scheme, one I've played with several times in the past, revealed some modifications ¿ specifically that the main character, and indeed all playable characters, move with a much greater speed. I would later have no trouble targeting five or six zombies, chopping their heads off with a sword, and dodging their advances in a matter of seconds ¿ these actions would have taken considerably longer in previous burns. This, for sure, is a very welcomed improvement that seems to make the game flow easier. Alex eventually comes to a grandfather clock in the deserted mansion and an option to change the time appears. I move the dials to 3:33 in the morning and I'm successful ¿ a wall slides open revealing a passageway just beyond. I follow it to her grandfather's secret study, where I discover his book, and the first chapter of the game.

The game still features a huge cast of playable characters. Unfortunately, the templar pictured above won't make the cut.

The scene fades to ancient times and showcases a conversation between Pious Augustus and other centurions. I know this portion of the game very well from demos in the past, and for the most part it is relatively unchanged. I quickly play through it, at which point gamers learn that Augustus ¿ the first playable character beyond the main heroine ¿ becomes the nemesis of the plot. He's turned into something evil and works with the guardians against humanity.